ORA600 - ayts2011http://www.ora600.be/taxonomy/term/70/0
enAre you the smartest 2011http://www.ora600.be/are-you-the-smartest-2011-ayts2011
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It's been a long time since I've written something here, but I reckon the following is worth a post.
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For those of you who don't know what Oracle 'Are you the smartest' is (or ayts short), have a look at this post <a href="http://www.ora600.be/ayts2008-are-you-the-smartest" target="_blank">I wrote a couple of years back</a>.
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Basically it's a competition for Oracle partners in the Benelux - I've entered the first time in 2008 and since then I've won it twice and became second once.
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Have a look at this year's topics (<a href="http://www.ayts.be/" target="_blank">http://www.ayts.be/</a>)
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All Benelux based Oracle partners can enter, and there is a winner per partner.
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This year, AXI was the smartest partner in Benelux, meaning, on average, we had the highest scores on the exams... again.
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Anyhow - I've won it this year for AXI - and the first price is a trip to Oracle HQ, followed by a quick stop in Vegas. Now that's a cool incentive !
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<img src="/system/files/u1/2011-06-17_13_19_02.jpg" height="500" width="375" />
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Have a look at <a href="http://marcel.vandewaters.nl/ayts-2011" target="_blank">Marcel's blog</a> for a more detailed overlook of the trip.
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I've been to SF and Vegas numerous times, but it never gets old !
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Although this year, I must it admit, I was very tired before I even started the trip.
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I've become a father 6months ago and this sort of starts to work on your sleep patterns <img src="http://www.ora600.be/sites/all/modules/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif" title="Cool" alt="Cool" border="0" />
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So I was looking forward to some rest, but these were 4days packed full of action and this tired me down even more.
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Also the group was quit large (25people), and people who know me, know I don't thrive that well in big groups.
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This meant that by the end of the trip I hadn't talk to all the people I wanted to talk to !
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The trip was a blast tho - I teamed up with Geert Depaep (the guy from <a href="http://www.dba-village.com" target="_blank">DBA-Village</a>) as a room-mate. He also won in 2008, the same year I last won.
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Two high lights stand out
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- the visit to Oracle HQ, were we had 2 presentations.
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One from Wim Coeckaerts on Oracle virtualisations and one from Jeff Davis on SOA.
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I can't really say much about it since we had to sign an NDA, other than, OracleVM 3.0 does exist.
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(it has been in beta so long, I started to wonder if it acutally existed !)
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Also, have a look at <a href="http://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/application-server/virtual-assembly-builder-067878.html" target="_blank">Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder</a>.
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I had never heard about this tool but it looks pretty cool if you want to deploy VM images and customize them.
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<img src="/system/files/u1/2011-06-17_09_11_51.jpg" height="500" width="375" title="wim coeckaert" alt="wim coeckaert" />
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- my poker session at the Venetian
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I didn't enter a tournament (allthough those deep stack tournaments look mighty tempting) - just played cash games 4h straight.
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Most of the guys went to the V club after 1h of gambling - apperently I was the only one not there ... but when I'm at the tables
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I lose time and interests in anything else ... and I made some money as a bonus.
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Anyway, overall excellent trip, a great incentive from Oracle, and a big thanks to Yves Van Looy.
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Now if only I could get this song out of my head they were playing at the <a href="http://www.parislasvegas.com/casinos/paris-las-vegas/casino-misc/chateau-nightclub-and-gardens-detail.html" target="_blank">Paris Chateau Nightclub</a>.
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http://www.ora600.be/are-you-the-smartest-2011-ayts2011#commentsaytsayts2011oraclehqSun, 26 Jun 2011 14:03:44 +0200kurtvm15129 at http://www.ora600.be